


It All Began in the Workshop

by elleliteration



Category: The Avengers (2012)
Genre: Anal, Anal Sex, Blow Jobs, M/M, Oral Sex, PWP, Shield Porn, Suit Porn, commission
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2012-11-30
Updated: 2013-04-19
Packaged: 2017-11-19 21:48:26
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,243
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/578007
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elleliteration/pseuds/elleliteration
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Horror crossed Steve’s face as Tony started removing pieces of his armor to throw at Thanos, a smirk on Tony’s face when his helmet bounced ineffectually off of Thanos’s face.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. The Tip of a Hand

**Author's Note:**

  * For [andrea](https://archiveofourown.org/users/andrea/gifts), [Starknip](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Starknip/gifts).



> I lay no claim to any characters depicted in this work of fiction. Copyright stays with all original and current holders.

Steve watched as Tony threw everything he had at Thanos, literally. Tony had already run through his supply of missiles, lasers, and flairs. Every bit of offensive weaponry in Tony’s armor had been depleted, and Steve just had to sit there and watch while his shield lay twenty yards away, Steve held immobile by Thanos’ power. Steve fought to move even an inch closer to the fight, to help Tony as he resorted to throwing rocks at Thanos’ head, but Thanos’ telekinesis held him bound in place. Somehow, Tony and Steve had gotten separated from the rest of the group and then ambushed by Thanos himself. It didn’t take long for Thanos to throw Steve’s shield well out of reach and restrained the living legend with bands of ruined metal reinforced with Thanos’ power.

So Steve had to sit there while Tony fought a being that together they had no hope of defeating, let alone Tony on his own. Sure, Tony had gotten some good hits in with his ammunition and Thanos was bleeding, but that only seemed to drive him to higher levels of manic activity, crushing scraps of Tony’s Iron Man armor with punches and kicks. Horror crossed Steve’s face as Tony started removing pieces of his armor to throw at Thanos, a smirk on Tony’s face when his helmet bounced ineffectually off of Thanos’s face. There’d been too many times since Steve had had that first argument under the influence of Loki’s spear with Tony that Steve’d watched Tony carelessly throw himself into a fight to save others. Steve had come to the realization that his first assessment of Tony had been completely wrong. Tony did whatever it took to save everyone he could, regardless of the potential risk to his own life. There were even times that Tony might have done such things BECAUSE of the risk to his life.

Thanos had Tony on the ground, his throat beneath Thanos’ boot, Tony gasping for breath as his fingers clawed against armored leather. Steve watched as Tony’s movements slowed, his hands falling to his sides, and he stopped fighting to take a breath. Relief crashed through Steve as Thor dropped out of the sky with lightning bouncing off Mjolnir, throwing Thanos off Tony. Natasha and Clint soon showed up to help fight against the mad being from another realm, distracting him enough that Steve could break free of his restraints. He had half a second to decide if he would join the fray or check on Tony before Bruce jumped on top of Thanos completely Hulked out, riding Thanos to the ground, turning the tide of the fight in their favor and Steve felt safe turning his attention to Tony.

Steve reached Tony’s side and found him pulling in deep breaths and trying to sit up in his armor. Steve offered Tony a hand and hauled him to his feet with a flex of his arm that had Tony stumbling against him. Steve shoved him back upright and went to oversee the restraining of Thanos, preparing to turn him over to ….some one that was better prepared to deal with him.

With Thanos restrained, Steve stalked off in search of something to hit, something to let his anger out. Tony throwing his life around like it was somehow worth less than anyone else’s made Steve’s blood boil. His complete and utter disregard for his own well-being had Steve wanting to shake some sense into him, to show Tony that he did matter, that he had every right to be among the living, that Tony seemed to not believe. Tony was always capable of taking the worst away from a conversation, no matter what was said about him.

~*~

After the rescue, Steve had showered the dirt and grime off from the fight with Thanos and then let the resident S.H.I.E.L.D. nurse patch him up even though his bruises were already fading. He could hear Tony loudly complaining in the next exam room over that he was fine and his arc reactor would recharge itself and that wasn’t really blood seeping out from under his armor. Tony’s injuries warranted a doctor who was taking none of Tony’s shit and was, from the clanks, slowly stripping Tony of his red and gold armor. The more he listened to Tony’s voice, the more anger bubbled up inside Steve and the less he could explain it.

Steve had ended up excusing himself from the nurse, assuring her that he was more than healthy enough to be allowed out, and perhaps she would like to go help with Mr. Stark. Before she could respond, Steve had pulled a T-shirt back over his head and slipped out of the room. He’d wandered around New York for a while, aimless in his travels until he found himself standing in front of Stark – correction, Avengers – Tower.

He stepped through the outer door and into the lobby of the building, his eyes scanning over the marble and glass and gilded metal that surrounded him. This part of the tower was definitely all Tony. The various levels that he built for each of the team members had definitely been designed with each of them in mind, but in every corner of the building, it was hard to miss traces of Tony in the walls and the floors and the little things. But this lobby was filled with opulence and grandeur that screamed Tony Stark in every square inch.

With a sigh, Steve pulled the key fob out of his pocket and passed it over the sensor bar then leaned in for the retina scan and pressed his palm against another panel. A prick in the middle of his palm let him know that the security panel had taken a small sample of his blood to make sure it wasn’t preserved in a vial. Unless someone killed an Avenger in the lobby, they wouldn’t get past the second set of doors, let alone to the elevators. If someone couldn’t pass the security screening, the outer doors locked and sealed and a knock out gas filled the room while the authorities were called to take care of the trespassers.

But right now, none of that mattered to Steve. He headed straight for the training floor of the tower, stopping briefly to exchange his jeans for sweat pants. Some unreasonable part of his mind balked at putting them on, since Tony had insisted on purchasing “team work out gear” for everyone and Steve wanted distance from Tony, not constant reminders of the man. With an uncharacteristic snarl Steve landed the first punch against the punching bag.

Hours later found Steve still in the gym, pounding out his frustrations against a third punching bag. The first two lay busted open and leaking sand onto the floor, waiting to be cleaned up later. Tony had originally invested in some fancy, high tech, impossible to destroy punching bags for Steve after he’d destroyed the original one in the gym. Turned out, they were a bad investment, since they’d only lasted a few days longer than the regular ones with Steve’s normal use.

Steve landed another hit, the chains creaked, the bag swayed, and the material strained, a few grains of sand hit the floor. His fist connected with the still swinging bag, a small tear appeared at the top near one of the chains. Steve spun and lashed out with his foot, sending the bag flying across the room to slam into the far wall and land in a heap of tattered material and scattered sand. He stood there panting for a few minutes while he tried to get himself under control. He wasn’t tired or out of breath, but his anger and frustration had not dissipated over his hours at the bag. Instead, it intensified, coming to a roiling boil.

“How’s it going?” Tony asked, poking his head into the gym with a grin plastered on his face.

“Fine,” Steve said tersely, turning his back on Tony as he bent to pick up another punching bag and stretched to hang it up.

“That doesn’t sound fine,” Tony said, walking into the room in pajama pants and a tank top. He leaned against the small boxing ring and crossed his arms over his chest and watched Steve as he moved.

Perhaps it was later than Steve thought it was? But that didn’t matter. “Well I am.”

“Those punching bags don’t look fine, either,” Tony said, nodding towards the two next to each other and then the one slumped against the wall.

“Well they look better than you did when you were fighting Thanos,” Steve said, turning to snap at Tony. It may have been a bit of a stretch, but to Steve it didn’t feel that way.  
Tony arched an eyebrow at Steve and the bags in one sweeping glance. “It wasn’t that bad. Didn’t even break any bones,” Tony said and held out his arms to show that there were no casts to be seen.

“And what about the last time we fought Doom? You ended up with a concussion and three broken ribs,” Steve said as he kicked one of the punching bags still lying on the floor. “And the last fight with Abomination where you ended up with a dislocated shoulder and a broken leg,” Steve said, starting to tick off the injuries on his fingers.

“But everything turned out just fine. Good. Besides, I’m very lucky.” Tony pulled at the ropes on the boxing ring, inspecting them so he didn’t have to look at the pain on Steve’s face.

“How long is it going to be before you get into a fight where you don’t get lucky? How long before the bad guy is the one with all the luck?” Steve asked, stepping forward and grabbing Tony by the shoulders, spinning him to face Steve. He just barely resisted trying to shake some sense into Tony.

“Whoa, whoa. Calm down. I think your skin is starting to turn a little green,” Tony said, trying to crack a joke, crack the tension that was strumming through Steve’s shoulders. He patted Steve’s arm, trying to get him to let him go.

“That’s your problem, Tony. You always make everything into a joke. You’ve turned your whole life into a joke. You toss it around like it’s not worth anything, and eventually it will be, because you’ll be dead.” Steve shoved Tony away from him and turned to stalk to the other end of the gym where his suit and shield were stored when he wasn’t actively travelling on the helicarrier.

“That’s what I’ve got my armor and teammates for,” Tony said with careless grin and he tried to think of a way out of the room that didn’t look or feel like running away, but he couldn’t.

“And what happens when that’s not good enough? When we don’t get there in time? Tony, what are you going to do when we’re not good enough to save you when you can’t save yourself?” Steve asked, stalking back towards where Tony stood, stepping in his personal space, closer than they’d been in months.

Tony’s mouth opened, to answer. To tell Steve that he didn’t have to worry about covering for Tony. That Tony never wanted Steve to put himself in danger for Tony’s sake. That no one should care about Tony that much. He was just a useless cog in the machine that was the Avengers. But his mouth snapped shut without a single word escaping him.  
“That is a selfish way to live, Tony,” Steve growled in his face.

“Selfish? How is putting my life on the line for other people selfish?” Tony asked, pushing into Steve’s space. He’d never had anyone call him selfish for being an ordinary guy that risked life and limb to stop bad people from doing bad things.

“Because you put your life on the line when you don’t have to. You take unnecessary risks just to prove that you deserve to be out there next to Thor and Hulk. And it’s selfish. Because the only one you need to prove anything to is yourself, Tony. You don’t care that you’ll be leaving the rest of us behind.” Steve snapped his mouth shut and pushed away from Tony like he had been burned.

Those weren’t the words that he’d meant to have leave his mouth. They betrayed too much. His hand had tipped too far. Too much emotion had escaped his tight control. But that was becoming regular when Steve was around Tony for prolonged times. Unfortunately, it was happening more and more when Steve wasn’t around Tony.

This wasn’t what Steve wanted. Loud, obnoxious, always in his face, brash Tony was not what Steve wanted. There were times he could barely stand to be in the same room as the man. Like now.

“I need some air,” Steve ground out and spun on his heel, and was out of the gym before he had a clear goal in mind. By the time he hit the elevator, Steve knew he was heading for the garage and his motorcycle, not caring that he was still in his sweatpants and T-shirt. He just needed space between himself and anything that reminded him of Tony. He heard Tony’s voice as the elevator doors closed behind him, but Steve just pressed the button to make the doors close faster.

The doors opened on the garage and Steve made a beeline for his bike and grabbed the leather jacket that hung from the handle bars. It was a little warm for leather, but he didn’t feel like testing super soldier serum regeneration against asphalt at 70 miles an hour. Besides, once he hit the freeway he’d be grateful for the extra layer between his skin and the wind.

Steve wheeled his motorcycle towards the exit while Jarvis asked him if he was really sure he wanted to leave the tower like this and shouldn’t he think about this a little more or at least calm down before he left. It was all ignored, though a pang of guilt stabbed at Steve for ignoring Jarvis. The A.I. had never been anything but polite to him. But Tony had created Jarvis, and that was just a little too grating for Steve’s raw emotions for him to listen to Jarvis just then.

With jerky movements, Steve shoved his helmet over his head and slammed the face plate closed, but Jarvis still continued to offer alternatives to a late night ride and suggestions that he calm down still piped in through the speakers installed in the helmet. Jarvis must have been monitoring their conversation in the gym, or perhaps Tony said something after Steve had left.

“Not now, Jarvis. Audio off,” Steve said and kicked the engine to life before he pealed out into the light traffic of late night.


	2. Foolhardy Designs

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony reflects on what Steve said and what that means for the "team."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter 2 of commission for Starknip.

Tony stood in the gym where Steve had left him – well maybe a few steps closer to the door than before, but still mostly in the same place – and ran a hand through his hair. Tony didn’t really see how it was selfish for him to risk his life to save people that mattered to everyone else. Mothers. Fathers. Daughters. Sons. It wasn’t like there would be anyone left behind to actually miss Tony when he was gone. Or at least he hadn’t thought there would be.

Sure Pepper would cry, but that was just because she hated job hunting and that wouldn’t even be an issue because he had contingencies in place for her. Besides, they’d ended their non-working relationship a long time ago. Not that he didn’t think she cared for him still – he did see her as a sort of older sister, but if she heard him say that, she’d kill him herself – but she still had other family alive.

And Rhodey. Rhodey would be fine without Tony. Tony just dragged him down, made his life harder, and got him drunk at inopportune times. They made a hell of a team, but they worked just as well, if not better, on their own. Well, Rhodey did. Tony tended to lack concentrated direction and could go off on random invention streaks that resulted in new and interesting things running around the tower, much to the complaints – or in Barton’s case, delight – of his roommates.

But what Steve had said …. It implied that someone would actually care if HE, not Iron Man, but Anthony Edward Stark were to die. Tony had rather been under the impression that it was nearly impossible to actually care about him; troopers that Rhodey and Pepper were, he could see the toll it took on them, on their careers.

When Tony died, he wouldn’t be leaving behind any family, and scarcely any friends to mourn him. The only reason he mattered was because he had money and he wore the suit. No one would mourn for the man inside the armor. Sure, there were tons of kids, and even some adults that will shed a tear when the hero Iron Man finally falls. There might even be some people that will use the occasion to shed a tear and drink a beer because some rich guy got himself killed. But aside from Pepper and Rhodey, Tony hadn’t expected anyone to truly care.

Not until Steve’s words hit home. “Leaving them behind,” Tony said aloud to the empty gym and thought about it for a few minutes. He didn’t know what to think about the words themselves, let alone what that might mean. It hadn’t really occurred to Tony that any of the other team members actually liked him. Tolerated, sure, but for them to actually enjoy spending time with him? It wasn’t that HE didn’t like that, but it was so often the truth that people only tolerated Tony to get something out of him.

S.H.I.E.L.D wanted the Iron Man armor. Natasha wanted his cooperation towards that end. The government wanted the Iron Man armor for their own use. Random people wanted access to his money, his cars, his sex appeal. It had been a very long time since anyone had spent time with Tony just to enjoy his company. 

Tony was sure Bruce was moderately fond of him, but he was also certain the scientist would do just fine if he was left on his own once more, possibly even reuniting with Betty when all was said and done. Thor came from another world with family and a kingdom to eventually rule when he was done playing on Earth. Clint and Natasha would be able to continue doing whatever it was that they had done before this little group had been brought together. Even Steve had the opportunity to go build a whole new life for himself doing whatever he wanted. Every one of their team had a life to move forward with whenever they wanted; all except for Tony. A man who has everything, and nothing, as he’d once been told, the words striking deeper than Tony thought possible.

With a sigh and a shake of his head, Tony left the gym and headed back to his floor of the tower. He needed a drink and Steve had declared his floor and the gym as “dry” areas of the tower and no matter how Tony had argued, Steve wouldn’t budge. And since Tony was the only one affected by it, the rest of the team had sided with Steve, leaving Tony high and, well, dry.

A glass of scotch in hand, Tony dropped down onto the couch in front of the empty fire place and stared blankly past the wrought iron grill. His mind ran in circles and his fingers ended up banging out a rhythm against the glass. It took a few minutes for Tony to actually realize what the tune was, because it was a tune, and he had to fight to not drop his glass to the rug below.

“Who’s strong and brave, here to save the American way,” Tony half sang under his breath before tossing back the rest of drink and refilling his glass. Howard had taught Tony the whole song when he’d been a boy. He still remembered all the words, apparently, as he hummed the tune under his breath, pausing long enough to swallow another mouthful of amber liquid. He found that the carafe he’d brought to the couch with him was empty, though he’d swear it’d been half full when he sat.

He stood and did a little shimmy as he headed back to the bar to refill his drink once more, singing, “The star spangled man with a plan,” as he went. Tony even managed to do a couple of the dancing girl’s kicks before he lost his balance too much to stay on one leg like that. Of course Tony knew the steps. Of course he’d grown up watching videos of the shows when Howard let himself get drunk and lost in memories of a man greater than himself.

Tony went to swallow another glass of alcohol down but found his cup to be empty. He looked at the bottle in his hand and couldn’t remember drinking half of the liquid that was now missing from the glass container. There wasn’t much left in the bottom of the bottle, so he up ended it over his mouth and drank the rest in a few large gulps. Howard would have been scandalized at Tony treating such a ‘fine liquor’ like it was a dollar date. Tony honestly didn’t care, simply enjoying the warmth that suffused his body as it went down his throat and filled his stomach. His skin tingled as he stood behind the bar and stared through the empty refracted glass bottle.

A sigh and a shake of his head and then Tony turned away from the bar and headed for his workshop, hoping to get lost in some project. He didn’t actually have a current project that he was working on, though he could rebuild the engine on his hotrod again. He hadn’t gotten any of his cars to run on an arc reactor yet. That was something new he could try to figure out. Tony had found some more of Howard’s old journals recently, including the designs and notes from a flying car that ran on repulsor tech that Howard had built and displayed in the middle of WW2. Tony could always try to take a crack at that. But then the question arose: should he start from scratch, or should he modify an already existing vehicle?

Once Tony was actually in his garage that doubled as his workshop and he surveyed what supplies he had and what he could salvage and what he’d need to go out and get. He decided to start from scratch, which meant he’d need a frame. He could tear down one of his cars, but he wasn’t sure it would actually hold up under the strain from the arc reactor and the repulsors. Which meant he would need to build that as well.

Tony ordered Jarvis to have more supplies delivered to the tower and set to work on assembling a medium sized arc reactor that was half the size of a standard engine block. Caffeine started brewing in a corner and Dummy came over to help hand Tony tools and hold things. It didn’t take long for Jarvis to figure out what Tony was working on and start to counsel against undertaking such an endeavor. Tony ignored it and kept working. He needed the distraction. He needed to not think about certain members of the team for a while. He needed to not think about anything but the project in front of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I make no claim to the characters. I just charge for my ability to string words together into sentences.


	3. What Happens in the Workshop, Stays in the Workshop

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve returns to the tower and Jarvis has him go check on Tony, who has locked himself in his personal workshop on the top floors.

**Chapter 3**

The sun had risen above the skyline by the time Steve returned to the tower. His mind was still a jumbled mess of frustration and concern and why the hell wouldn’t Tony take better care of himself? But he was calmer than he had been, less out of control than when he’d argued with Tony the night before. His helmet came off as soon as he wheeled his bike into the underground garage and parked it in his usual spot.

“Sir, I’m sorry to bother you,” Jarvis’ voice filled the garage as soon as Steve could hear it.

“What is it, Jarvis?” Steve asked, tired and wanting to shower before he fell into bed for a couple hours.

“Well, I’m afraid that Tony shut himself in his workshop after your departure last night and I’m rather concerned about his current project. Also, he’s only consumed alcohol and coffee. I was rather hoping you might check on him, sir,” Jarvis said.

And if Steve hadn’t seen the programing lines, he would have sworn that Jarvis was a human butler at a loss as to how to handle his employer’s antics. Truthfully, Jarvis sort of was, in that he was incapable of physically being there and Steve knew from conversations with Peggy that sometimes you needed more than just a voice from the distance.

Steve sighed and nodded. “I’ll check on him.” He still wasn’t sure he wanted to see Tony right now, but he wouldn’t leave the self-proclaimed genius locked in his lab until he dropped from exhaustion. If for no other reason than it would be bad for the team. What if they needed Tony for a fight and he was exhausted and running only on caffeine?

He stowed his helmet and double checked the kick stand before he dismounted the bike and headed for Tony’s workshop. It took up most of the top ten floors, but Tony seemed to prefer to stick to one floor all the way at the top of Avengers Tower. Whether it was to make it easier to take off with the Iron Man suits or just so no one would be above him, Steve didn’t know. But still he dragged his tired body all the way up there and wasn’t surprised when his passcode wouldn’t open the elevator doors.

In a fit of tired frustration, Steve was about to say forget it and just head to his floor, his bed, when Jarvis must have overridden the door command and they slid silently open. He was greeted with the sight of Tony’s work area in utter ruins. At least nothing was smoking, so he counted that as a win. But tools and bits of metal were scattered on every surface available. Half the doors and drawers on storage cabinets hung open, revealing scattered and scrambled contents. Oh, nope. There was a torch left burning on one of the counters. Steve just thanked God that Tony had landed it on a cradle and the flame pointed straight up into the air.

He walked around the work station and turned the welding torch off with another sigh. He walked around the entire floor and finally found Tony sitting on the floor next to a work table with a small screw driver in hand while he fiddled with some metal box. Behind the table Tony was at, in the center of the room sat what almost looked like a car frame up on blocks. Steve left Tony alone for a second to walk around the bare frame, marveling at the wires carefully tucked away here and there on the framework.

“Tony, what are you building?” Steve asked, walking back around the table to crouch in front of the man in question.

“Flying car,” Tony said without even looking up.

Steve wasn’t even sure Tony realized he was there, let alone that he’d spoken. Steve waved a hand in front of Tony’s face. Nothing. It wasn’t that surprising. Steve had seen Tony when he was like this a couple times. It was still disconcerting.

Then, Tony’s words hit Steve. “Wait. You’re building a flying car?” Steve asked, grabbing Tony’s arms and stopping his movement. It was guaranteed to get Tony’s attention, but it also ticked him off.

“Yes. A flying car. Problem?” Tony said, meeting Steve’s eyes.

Steve finally saw recognition in Tony’s eyes. “No. It’s just that …” Steve paused for a second. “I saw Howard show a prototype when I was …. Before everything that happened. I guess I figured if it wasn’t something that I saw by now, that it wouldn’t be something I’d ever see.” Steve shook his head and sat on the floor across from Tony. “Using the repulsor tech like your suit for lift?” Steve asked, looking at the box in Tony’s hands and still seeing just a box, but one of Tony’s gauntlets sat on the floor next to him.

“Oh. Yeah. I found his journals a while ago,” Tony said while he twisted a screwdriver between his fingers while holding the ‘box’ up to survey it. “Figured I’d get a car to run on an arc reactor. Then I thought, why the hell shouldn’t it fly, too?”

“So what is that for?” Steve asked, pointing at the box that Tony had dropped back to his lap and started working on again.

“Arc reactor,” Tony said, once again engrossed in his work more than the conversation or the person it was with.

Steve glanced at Tony’s chest and the small glowing light that was visible through the thin material of the T-shirt Tony was wearing and then back at the solid metal box in Tony’s hands. “That doesn’t look much like an arc reactor, Tony,” Steve hedged, tired, but intrigued by the science that Tony seemed to take for granted.

Tony looked up again, blinked a few times. “It’s to protect the reactor in case the car crashes. So it doesn’t explode like a gas tank would. Except, this-“ Tony tapped the reactor in his chest “-would be a much larger explosion than some gas fire.”

“Isn’t that kind of dangerous, then?” Steve asked, staring at the glowing spot on Tony’s chest with a whole new level of respect. The level of respect reserved for standing next to a nuclear bomb or a large pile of C4.

Tony scoffed, though Steve wasn’t sure if it was at his question or his slightly fearful look. “No more dangerous than me getting out of bed in the morning.”

“You getting out of bed before 9am actually is dangerous and I think Clint still has a couple bruises to prove it,” Steve said with a chuckle. It had only been a couple days since Tony had been dragged from bed to deter an early morning bank robbery, though Tony had complained about the police handling such trivial matters at the time. Loudly. Clint had told Tony to stay at the tower and he and Steve would take care of it, but Tony insisted on going because he could get there faster, being the one that could fly. Steve still wasn’t sure what exactly had happened and Clint flat out refused to speak about the black eye that he came back to the tower with.

They spent several hours, just sitting on the floor, Tony working on various pieces for what would be the engine of the car while Steve handed him parts and tools, and chatting aimlessly. Tony smiled and laughed when Steve made jokes and didn’t protest when Natasha came in with a tray of food for them and Steve had him stop working long enough to eat something. Of course, the options Steve gave him were ‘stop and eat’ or ‘get knocked out and bodily removed from the workshop’. It seemed that when faced with choices like those, Tony could be quite reasonable, thank you very much, and ate a sandwich before he went back to work on the car, this time tackling the steering system.

Steve helped with the heavy lifting when Tony started joking – Steve hoped Tony was joking – about putting the Iron Man suit on to move things around where he needed them. As usual, when they were working towards a common goal and not fighting against each other about how to get there, they worked well together. This was how Steve liked it between them. Easy and light and them communicating. Steve told Tony a couple stories from his time during the war, and with Howard, including the ‘Fondue Incident.’ They had both laughed about that one, Tony falling to his side to giggle for a good five minutes. If Steve hadn’t been rather sleep deprived himself, he may have been concerned, but as it was, he found Tony giggling to be adorable and contagious.

Tony did eventually get into the Iron Man suit to move a fragment of frame that was too much for Steve to handle on his own, but they got the piece into place and Tony welded it to the rest, and it started to look more like something recognizable as a car. The helm came back off after they were done and the gauntlets stayed off so Tony could do the more delicate work with the welder and the rest of the tools, but he just sat on the floor in the suit of armor.

Steve picked up one of the dark gauntlets and turned it over in his hands, examining the way the several smaller pieces puzzled together to make the armor. “How does it feel?” Steve asked, glancing up at Tony who was now actively working on the arc reactor for the car, which turned out to be only slightly larger than the original that sat in Tony’s chest.

“How does what feel? Being with a woman? Flying? Being this damn handsome? Awesome. All of it,” Tony said with a cheeky smirk.

Steve reached out and lightly smacked Tony with the back of his hand a chuckle. “Cheeky. No. How does wearing the armor feel?” Steve asked, holding up the gauntlet into Tony’s line of sight so that he couldn’t possibly be confused.

“The first one I made here pinched in ALL the wrong places,” Tony said with a knowing look. “After that, I made it adjustable so if I was feeling fat, the suit would still fit. It should fit you,” Tony said, waving a hand towards Steve and the gauntlet.

“I …. Wh … what? How?” Steve asked, turning the bit of metal and wire over in his hands repeatedly. There was no way his hand would fit past the wrist of the armor.

Tony held out his hand for Steve to pass him the armor, wiggling his fingers as if that would hurry Steve along. Metal hit his palm and before Steve could let go, Tony’s thumb found and activated the release on the underside of the wrist, causing the tunnel to expand, including the fingers. He turned back to his work in hand and smiled.

Steve practically dropped the hand piece as it expanded and Tony took away his hand. He was not expecting anything like that. Sure, he knew a lot of the armor was automated, but Steve didn’t think it would just pop open like that without a power source, nor did he think that Tony would be able to trigger it so quickly.

“H … How do I?” Steve asked and stopped, thinking it was probably a stupid question.

“Just slide it on. Heck of a lot easier than a condom, and I’m pretty sure you know how to use those by now,” Tony said and smirked at the newly blushing Captain America.

Steve didn’t bother to sputter at Tony’s forwardness – he’d long since learned that Tony said and did things that made him blush just for the hell of it – and instead slipped his hand into the armor, trying not to think of anything remotely related to what Tony had said. Sure Steve knew how to use a condom, but that didn’t mean he had much practice, and he still wasn’t used to people talking about such topics as sex and condoms whenever the desire struck them, and never the frequency of Tony. With his hand snugly in the casing of the armor, Steve looked for the switch Tony had hit and found it after a moment of searching. He tried not to jump when the armor closed around his skin and adjusted to the different size of his hand and forearm.

After a minute, Tony looked up and grinned at the look on Steve’s face. “So what do you think? How’s it feel?” he asked while watching Steve turn his hand and flex his fingers.

“Is this what the whole suit feels like?” Steve asked, barely taking his eyes off his metal encased hand, but he managed long enough to find Tony’s eyes and meet them for a second. His hand tingled, but he didn’t think it was from anything being wrong. More like a very low electrical current that was coating his skin. He wondered if it was only possible to feel it from the inside of the suit or if it was something that could be felt from the outside, but then thought that was silly. If it was also on the outside, he would have felt it while he was handling the armor piece for the last twenty minutes. But still when he ran the gauntlet over his bare arm, he would have sworn that he could feel the same low, pleasant current.

“Yeah, it is,” Tony said and smiled at the wonder in Steve’s voice.

“How are you not distracted constantly by this?” Steve asked and Tony looked almost confused. So he leaned forward and stroked the gauntlet down the side of Tony face, a slow drag of metal against skin and a half day’s worth of stubble. Steve watched Tony’s face as his eyes dropped close and a full body shiver shook him.

Sure, he could have just run the gauntlet over Tony’s arm or something, but …. Steve had no excuse. That crossed a line. A line that Steve had poured in concrete – much more permanent that just one drawn in sand – and he’d worked hard to keep his concern for Tony purely professional. And now, in a single move, he’d shoved a stick of dynamite down the middle of his concrete line and blown it to bits. Without looking up, Steve started scrambling at the underside of his wrist, looking for the trigger to release his hand.

“Just gonna run away?” Tony asked as he opened his eyes and caught Steve with his stare.

Steve froze, unsure whether to keep trying to remove the glove or to just run – no, he wasn’t running from Tony – to just leave the workshop while still wearing it. It only took Steve a second to decide that leaving with the gauntlet still on would feel far too much like actually running away and he was not going to admit to running away from Tony Stark.

Tony, on the other hand, seemed to have absolutely no problem with what he wanted to do. Steve looked up from trying to find the release trigger once more and found himself eye to eye with a kneeling Tony right in front of his face. A kneeling and grinning Tony. Who was still in the suit. And eyeing Steve like he was a piece of his favorite candy to be sucked on and savored.

“Tony?” Steve said and licked his lips. The All American Hero was not nervous because of something that Tony Stark was doing or possibly even contemplating doing.

“Hmmmm?” Tony asked. Sort of. He really didn’t care what objections Steve came up with. There were two reasons to stroke someone’s cheek the way that Steve had done and one of them involved a gag reel, which Tony knew for a certainty that he’d had Jarvis stop recording everything he did in the workshop unless he expressly told Jarvis to run the cameras for testing. So no gag reel possible.

“What are you doing?” Steve asked, leaning back as Tony leaned further into his personal space.

“I plan on kissing you,” Tony said. “You asked if it always feels like that. The best way to find out if it tingles when it touches you is to touch various pieces of the armor to various parts of your body,” Tony added and just barely resisted saying that it was for science.

“What does kissing me have to do with … with this testing?” Steve asked, trying to inch backwards without it being obvious, but he’d been sitting close to one of the rolling work stations and now Tony had him almost backed against one.

Tony smirked and leaned in until he was only a few inches from Steve’s face. “It sets up a baseline to test against. Every test has to have a control test run,” Tony said and it sounded perfectly reasonable and purely scientific when it was put like that.

Without giving Steve any time to think of any further possible objections, Tony raised his hand that was glove free and slowly stroked it over Steve’s cheek in much the same fashion that Steve had done to him. Lightly, starting with just the barest touch of his fingertips along his hairline and then more of his hand pressed against Steve’s cheek as Tony cradled his face. He leaned closer, bracing his weight and the weight of the metal suit up with his other hand, and got close enough that he could feel Steve’s breath on his mouth.

“Feel anything?” Tony asked.

Steve blinked and started to shake his head no, but the pressure of Tony’s hand stopped him. “No.”

“Good,” Tony said and then closed the distance between them to slant his lips over Steve’s, lips parted just enough to slip his tongue out to barely touch against Steve’s lower lip. His hand moved from Steve’s face to the back of his neck, his fingers playing in the short hairs at the base of his skull. But Tony made certain to keep all pieces of the armor away from Steve’s skin. That was the whole point of this.

Steve let loose a shuddery sigh into Tony’s mouth and he felt like he melted into a puddle next to the cabinet. The only thing that let Steve know that he was still definitely a solid substance was the feel of Tony’s skin pressed to his. The only anchors to reality were the things that made him feel like nothing was real, the solid weight of Tony’s hand against the back of his head and their lips moving together that sent small jolts down his spine. He wasn’t ready when Tony pulled back and he didn’t understand why Tony had broken off their kiss.

“Did you feel anything?” Tony asked a second time, fighting to not laugh.

“Um … ye… I mean, no,” Steve answered. He’d felt something. But that wasn’t what they were there to test. There’d been no tingling from Tony’s skin. Except that Steve’s lips were definitely tingling now.

Tony had to take a deep breath to stay put where he was. Kissing Steve Rogers was one thing. Having sex with Steve Rogers was a completely different situation and he was certain neither of them were ready for that. Maybe. At the very least, they were unprepared for that here. It didn’t matter if Tony had been quietly lusting after Steve almost since they started working together. Tony had no clue how Steve felt about him beyond teammate concern. But Steve would never let Tony do something to him that Steve didn’t want.

“Okay then,” Tony said and he switched hands and traced a gauntleted finger over Steve’s cheek, making him jump.

“Cold,” Steve said as an explanation when Tony raised an eyebrow at him. “No tingling.”

Tony nodded like he cared and ran the same hand over the back of Steve’s bare hand that was braced against the ground at his side, which made Tony have to lean over Steve’s body, the glow of the arc reactor lighting up Steve’s chest and face. Looking up to check for a reaction, Tony found Steve’s eyes staring hard at him with something Tony was unfamiliar with. It was close to lust, but Tony was intimately familiar with lust on people’s face. They lusted after him, his money, his body, his tech. He saw lust on the faces around him almost constantly. And this look on Steve’s face was decidedly not lust.

Steve shivered as tingles ran over his hand that had nothing and everything to do with the cool metal tracing patterns over his skin, but he shook his head. “No…nothing.”

Tony dragged his hand up Steve’s arm slowly until the gauntlet reached Steve’s elbow, and then sent it back down the inside of his arm, watching as muscles twitched beneath his fingers. He glanced to Steve’s face and saw him nod just a bit, barely noticeable if he hadn’t been looking for the movement. Tony started the glove back up Steve’s arm, this time going higher, pushing the arm of the T-shirt out of his way to brush fingers of Steve’s shoulder.

“Tingles a little,” Steve said, his voice breathy and he swallowed hard to try to clear his throat.

“Is it because of static from the shirt?” Tony asked, looking Steve in the eye.

“Only one way to find out,” Steve said and moved enough to dislodge Tony’s hand from his arm and grabbed the hem of his shirt and pulled up, yanking it over his head and tossing it to the side. “Try it again,” Steve said, his voice a little steadier, a little surer of itself.

Tony placed his hand at Steve’s wrist and slid it up the full length of Steve’s arm and over his shoulder. Tony looked up expectantly and watched Steve’s face with his head listing to the side, his eyes closed, and his lower lip caught between his teeth. That was a reaction Tony wasn’t exactly expecting.

“Not just the shirt,” Steve rasped once he let his lip free. With Tony still touching his shoulder, he felt like someone had touched an electric razor to his skin.

“What about this?” Tony asked and ran his hand from Steve’s shoulder to his abdomen, making sure to drag at least three fingers over one of Steve’s nipples, and stopped at the bottom of Steve’s ribcage, resting his hand there, feeling the way his stomach moved as he breathed, a little fast and a little heavy. Tony wanted to rest his head against Steve’s chest or fingers against his pulse and find out if Steve’s heart was racing as much as Tony’s was. But he didn’t.

Steve’s breath hissed in through clenched teeth and he almost pulled away from the contact, almost put a stop to all of this … this … whatever this was, because there was no way this was a simple scientific experiment. But the part of him that cared for Tony as more than just a teammate, that enjoyed talking science with him, and spending time in the lab with him, and watching Tony work on his suits or build new defenses for the team, that part of Steve told the rational part that was worried about what would happen to the team dynamics if the relationship between Iron Man and Captain America changed. Steve told that part of his mind to shut up and that Iron Man and Captain America weren’t here right now, so that didn’t matter. If something actually changed, he’d worry about it later. After he figured out what he was really doing with Tony in this workshop and what it meant for their future. HIS future. This wasn’t a relationship. There was no ‘them’. Not yet.

Tony leaned close enough to whisper in Steve’s ear. “What does that feel like?” Tony asked, just so he could keep up the farce of an experiment and keep his hand – separated by metal as it was – on Steve’s body.

“Feels …. Feels good,” Steve said, his voice low and strained, like he was fighting against something. It wasn’t what he’d meant to say and he honestly couldn’t remember what he’d originally planned to say to Tony’s question. He wanted to pull away. He wanted to pull Tony closer.

Steve’s voice hit a nerve deep in Tony, one that made him pause, that strained tone that he only heard when Steve was in trouble, when he fought against something but couldn’t get free. The only ones there were Tony and Steve, and all Steve had to do to make this stop was say a word, any word that indicated he didn’t like this, that he wanted this to stop, and Tony would be gone. Gone from the room, from the tower, and away from Steve. Because he could stop, he would for Steve, but he wouldn’t be able to look at him afterwards. Not without doing something Tony would regret.

“Shall I keep going?” Tony asked, trying to keep his voice detached and professional despite having Steve Rogers practically splayed out beneath him, shirtless and only in a pair of sweat pants, and … Tony’s brain stuttered to a stop as he looked down and saw the tent in the front of Steve’s pants. Oh. Well then. That was an interesting reaction.

 _Stark, if you stop, I’ll strip this suit from your body with my bare hands._ At least, that’s what Steve wanted to say, what was on the tip of his tongue. “Yeah. Yes,” was what actually came out of Steve’s mouth, to his great relief.

Tony just nodded, his eyes still on Steve’s groin, until he realized he was staring at the outline of Steve’s hardened cock and that might make Steve a little uncomfortable, so he tore his gaze away and looked up at Steve’s face. Only he was flushed and his eyes were half closed so that Steve was watching Tony through his lashes and his mouth was hanging open just a little in a way that made Tony want to lunge forward and pin Steve to the floor while he kissed him until neither of them could breathe properly anymore. Right. So that wasn’t such a great plan. Instead, Tony studied his gloved hand and watched muscles twitch under metal as he slid his hand from the front of Steve’s ribcage to the back, following the contoured line of bone and muscle. When his fingers reached spine, he paused for a second and then dragged them down, stopping when he found the waist band of Steve’s pants.

Steve’s back arched as Tony’s hand pressed lightly – and oh god how much control did Tony have if he could press such light touches to Steve’s skin while wearing a suit that made him strong enough to crush metal? – and he tilted a little too far back, and he found himself almost falling over, scrambling for something to hang onto. Until his hand wrapped around Tony’s arm that was propping him up, and clung, pulling himself closer to Tony despite a part of his brain telling him to stop, to hit the brakes and this was a colossally bad idea because Tony was a notorious playboy and Steve would just end up hurt. But Tony hadn’t actually been with anyone since he’d broken up with Pepper. Not even a single one night stand to speak of. At least, there’d been none that had come to breakfast, which had been the usual routine before his latest stint with Pepper.

“Do you want me to stop?” Tony asked, pulling back enough to look at Steve’s face.

It was enough to jerk Steve from his thoughts and made him focus on Tony’s concerned face. “No,” Steve said, pulling himself closer to Tony. He’d just decided that he was going to take a chance, risk getting hurt and having his heart broken, and Tony was asking about stopping again. He clenched his fingers around Tony’s armored arm and felt tingles spread through his hand and up his arm. “Don’t you dare.”

Tony smiled, not just one of his smirky masks of a smile, but a real one, that actually lit up his eyes. “Is that an order, Captain?” he asked, and had to fight to keep a laugh down.

“Yes. It is,” Steve said and looked square in Tony’s eyes.

Tony saw the challenge in Steve’s eyes, the unspoken risk, and it made blood pool in his groin, making his already hard cock throb against his zipper. There was something kinky about having any kind of sex with Steve, with Captain America, while Tony was in the Iron Man suit, some twisted sense of reality that had him seriously debating whether he should take the suit off and make it easier to be touched or leave the suit on and do all the touching.

“I wouldn’t dream of disobeying a direct order,” Tony said, pulling back just enough to slide his gauntleted hand back between them, following the line of Steve’s waistband. “There is still one more place we haven’t tested yet.” Without saying another word, without waiting for a cue from Steve, Tony pushed his hand beneath the elastic band of Steve’s pants and brushed armored fingers through the curly hairs above Steve’s cock. His thumb accidently on purpose brushed against the head and shaft of his dick, which earned him a startled moan from Steve as his hips involuntarily thrust up towards Tony’s hand.

Tony pulled back, just a few inches, but still, the look on Steve’s face when he did made something stab angrily at his chest. But he didn’t want Steve to hurt himself. Super Soldier Serum or not, a shot to the nuts was a shot to the nuts and that was enough to put an end to any kind of fun. “Sorry. Just … um, be careful,” Tony said lamely, banging his ungauntleted hand against his chest, letting the dull thud echo through the room. “Don’t want you getting hurt.”

Relief flowed through Steve like water from a bucket and he wanted to laugh. He’d thought he’d done something wrong, that Tony hadn’t liked him being so eager, despite his words. Maybe Tony didn’t like someone else taking the lead? A thousand thoughts had run through his head, things he could have done wrong or signs he misinterpreted from Tony. He wasn’t exactly well versed in this. But that didn’t stop him from wanting to try. He’d even almost forgotten about the armor encasing Tony’s body for a minute, except for the low level hum of electricity that seemed to be running just over the surface of his skin where he was close to Tony, which was just about everywhere.

“Right. Right. Thanks,” Steve said, running a shaking hand through his hair and then dropping it to Tony’s shoulder, hoping he wouldn’t notice the lame attempt to draw them closer, to create more contact between them.

“Do you want to stop? Mood is kinda ruined now,” Tony said, his hand still down Steve’s pants, but the teasing foreplay had somewhat cooled down by Tony pulling back. Which he wanted to kick himself for. Of course, he’d been thinking of Steve’s well-being, even though it wasn’t something that was talked about when stories of his sexcapades were discussed, but Tony took pride in being a considerate lover. Now the look in Steve’s eyes and the nervous tension filling the air between them had Tony’s excitement going down a few levels.

“Tony, if you ask me that one more time, I’m going to leave and make sure you know that I’m taking care of this myself,” Steve said and pulled the front of his pants down enough to show his still hard cock curving towards his stomach. He could feel heat filling his cheeks as he realized just exactly what he’d done, but it was too late to worry about that now. He’d made up his mind, and he was going to follow through. Even if he ended up wanting to launch Tony through a wall for risking his life yet again in some stupid fight that wasn’t worth it. That was the future and there was no sense in borrowing tomorrow’s troubles when he still had to deal with today’s.

“Oh. Um, right,” Tony said and wrapped armored fingers around Steve’s cock, being as careful as he could. This was one of those things that you just didn’t want to screw up. Of course, he wouldn’t be able to do this for long, especially without lube. Spit was pretty much their only option, but just spitting on his hand wasn’t going to cut it. It’d be best if he could get his mouth around Steve’s cock, for more than one reason. Tony had more than one good fantasy about blowing Steve.

Then there was the question of how Tony would accomplish that. In their current position, their current situation, Tony couldn’t bend over enough in the Iron Man suit to be able to do anything more than tongue the head of Steve’s cock. If he laid down on his stomach, he’d be too low and would probably end up with one heck of a crick in his neck if he did anything other than deep throat Steve the entire time. Which left him with one idea left. Well, one that would actually work on short notice.

“Stand up,” Tony said, backing off to give Steve just enough room to be able to slide up the side of the work station they were leaned up against.

“What?” Steve asked, looking at Tony and the distance between them like Tony had grown a second head.

“Stand up,” Tony repeated, this time waving his hand to encourage Steve to take his feet and ask fewer questions.

Steve looked at Tony like he wasn’t quite sure if he should trust whatever plan Tony seemed to have in mind, but Steve knew for sure that he wasn’t going to back out now. With a determined nod, Steve got to his feet and leaned against the work station, gingerly at first to test that the wheels were locked – they were – and then he settled most of his weight with his forearms braced on the top of the thankfully clear station.

Tony stayed on his knees in front of Steve, awkwardly shuffling forward in the suit until there was only a few inches between them, which Tony easily breached with a hand to Steve’s hip. Tony looked up and smiled when he was met with the sight of Steve staring down, eyes intent on Tony’s every move, Steve’s face flushed and eyes shining.

Steve raised a questioning eyebrow at Tony and wished he had questioned Tony’s plan when he found his sweat pants around his knees and his entire dick hanging free in the chilly air of the room. Air hissed in between his teeth when Tony leaned in and blew directly on the head of his cock. Steve’s hands fisted as he fought against wanting to wrap his fingers in Tony’s hair and the desire to remain upright, but he knew if he got his fingers in Tony’s hair, then he might not be able to hold himself back. So Steve settled back, tried to relax, and watched Tony between his legs.

Tony focused on Steve, running his mouth over his skin, but not touching Steve’s cock. Tony trailed his lips along Steve’s thigh, over his hip, and then down the inside of his other thigh. He took his time, biting lightly, sucking on ridges of muscle until he made bruises, and blowing cool air over wet skin. When he found a spot that made Steve moan, Tony made sure he paid a little extra attention to the spot, dragging more noises from above his head.

Steve had to fight not to squirm beneath Tony’s ministrations, but it was difficult. “Tonnnny,” Steve ground out. His fingers wrapped around the edge of the table instead of in Tony’s hair, guiding his mouth where Steve wanted it, his hips stayed pressed to the table instead of thrusting towards Tony’s mouth.

Tony chuckled and ran his unarmored hand up and down Steve’s leg, his fingers pausing to rub at the back of Steve’s knee and he had to bite his lower lip to hold back an outright laugh when Steve’s knee almost buckled. His hand still covered by the armor rested on Steve’s hip and he tried to keep from flexing his fingers too much. A little consensual bruising during sex was all fine and dandy, but the damage he could do just by squeezing was more than what Tony would call ‘a little bruising’, consensual or not. So he kept his fingers light and gave in to what they both apparently wanted.

Tony licked a line up the length of Steve’s cock and enjoyed the low moan that sounded above his head. Eyes on Steve’s face, Tony opened his mouth and took the head of Steve’s dick into his mouth and sucked lightly, playing with the extra skin with his tongue. Tony had never given a blow job to a man that wasn’t circumcised before. True, Tony wasn’t in the habit of giving many blow jobs to men, but the few he had given all happened to be with men who were circumcised. It was new and Tony simply sat there for a few minutes, feeling out the ways that he could move the skin, even sucking hard enough and dragging his mouth back to pull the foreskin over the head of Steve’s cock, and then tried to slip his tongue between foreskin and the head of Steve’s cock. Tony had heard of docking before, but why stop there? There were so many ways to give pleasure to another human being that Tony had a hard time just sticking with the basics. Or at least keeping them basic.

Steve’s head rolled back on his shoulders, but only for a second. He wanted to keep watching Tony on his knees, that mouth wrapped around his dick, something he’d thought he’d never live to see, even with the serum lengthening his life. Tony’s tongue slid under his foreskin once more and one of Steve’s knees tried to give out and a moan slipped from his mouth. “Tony.” Air hissed in between teeth and was held for a second, then shuddered out. “Shit.”

Tony pulled free of Steve’s cock with a chuckle and stroked the shaft with his bare hand. “I wasn’t sure that you knew those kinds of words, Steve,” Tony said with a smile. Steve opened his mouth to respond, but Tony slid his mouth back over the length of Steve’s dick, all the way to the base and hummed as he pulled back until just the head was left in his mouth. He bobbed his head in short strokes over the head of Steve’s cock, pushing the foreskin back down over the shaft of Steve’s dick.

Steve groaned as his fingers clenched, blunt nails digging against his palms. “Tony…Stop …. I’m gon-“ Steve ground out, his fingers moving to curl in Tony’s hair, pulling Tony away. “Shit,” Steve panted, heart pounding in his chest. “I need a minute,” he said, surprised by the orgasm that had nearly over taken him.

Tony looked up from his position on his knees, and smirked before pulling against Steve’s hand. “That’s the whole point,” he said before swallowing Steve’s dick once more. He felt the pull as Steve fought him for a minute, but he knew Steve wouldn’t hurt him, and after a minute, Tony felt Steve’s hold loosen enough to allow him to easily move again. 

“Tony. I’m not …. But…” Steve tried to protest, but the longer Tony moved over his cock, tongue playing over his head when he reached the end of most strokes, the more Steve’s mind seemed to scramble and he couldn’t think enough for his mind to produce a reason why he wanted Tony to stop. Tony’s hand rested on his hip, mouth on his cock, and Steve looked down and his breath punched out of his chest at the sight of Tony’s wet lips wrapped around his dick and his dark eyes staring straight up at Steve’s face.

Tony hummed when Steve looked down, encouraging, and moved his mouth a little faster, bringing his bare fingers up to play with Steve’s balls and continued to hold his gaze. He wanted to see Steve come undone, to just let go and enjoy, instead of worrying about whatever it was that had him pulling Tony off. He would have loved to see Steve like that, splayed out beneath him, surrounded by slate gray sheets, but that would hopefully come later. His fingers squeezed, rubbing over Steve’s thigh, his bare hand rolling his balls gently.

A groan dragged its way from Steve’s throat, and his head dropped forward, chin resting against his chest, and his hips rocked involuntarily twice before he could stop them. His fingers clenched in Tony’s hair, pulling his head closer, making Tony take his entire cock as muscles spasmed and his orgasm rolled him over. It started at the base of his spine and splintered through his body, Tony’s name a cracked moan on his lips.

Tony swallowed all of Steve down, and he kept in mind to stay calm until he could breathe easily again. A thrill shot down Tony’s spine at the way Steve lost control, lost himself in the pleasure washing over his body, his hand flexing against muscle and bone. That thrill spread from his spine and filled his body as his hips pushed against the front of the suit and he came with moan, his eyes fluttering for a second before he forced them back open. He watched Steve tense and then relax as his body went from completely wound up to bonelessly serene. He waited for blue eyes to flutter open, the hand on his head to relax, and then he slowly pulled away, sucking lightly, cleaning Steve’s cock as he went.

Steve blinked, wondered when his eyes had closed – the last thing he remembered were Tony’s dark eyes staring up at Steve while blowing him, and Steve blowing his load – and he realized what he’d done. Forcing Tony to swallow his cock like that. Holding him down. Taking his pleasure like that with no regard for how Tony might feel about that. Guilt washed up, erasing the pleasant afterglow from his orgasm. His hand dropped from Tony’s hair and he wanted to apologize, but he didn’t know where to start, how to even begin to apologize for using his strength like that.

In a fit of confused guilt, Steve pushed Tony away from him and rushed to get out of the shop, stumbling after a step with his pants around his ankles. He yanked them up and ran out of the room before Tony could get a word out to stop him, to call Steve back.

Tony watched his retreating back and looked down at his hands curled in his lap. His eyes widened and wanted to smack himself. He’d thought he’d seen some kind of pain in Steve’s eyes before he left, and now he understood. The hand he’d rested against Steve’s thigh, the one Tony had gripped his hip with was still gauntleted in the Iron Man armor. He wasn’t sure if he’d imagined the limp in Steve’s step, but he was sure now that he’d hurt Steve with his carelessness.


	4. And Continued in the Gym

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Steve and Tony have both jumped to conclusions, wrong conclusions, but conclusions all the same. So Clint takes matters into his own hands.

**Chapter 4**

Tony locked himself in his workshop, abandoning his car project, unable to even look at it without thinking of Steve, which led him to think about what he did to him. Jarvis made sure Bruce brought him food and made him eat as much as he could, but when he started to try to talk to him, he just shut him out until he stopped talking and left him alone. It would probably take a while for Steve to forgive him. It would take even longer for Tony to forgive himself.

Little did Tony know that Steve had done almost the exact same thing in the gym, only allowing Thor in to see him. Thor was the only one that Steve had gone toe to toe with in the boxing ring and come out flat on his back with a spinning head. Steve was sure that Thor would be able to stop him from doing anything that Thor didn’t want to happen.

Clint would just look at Bruce and Thor when they came back from their respective meal runs and shake his head before going back to tinkering with his arrows. He’d taken up residence in one of the lower labs between the floors that Steve and Tony were inhabiting, turned it into a shooting range and testing ground for his new arrows. It also kept him close to Tony and Steve should either of them need anything.

“It’s been three days,” Clint said when Thor and Bruce converge on his floor after taking the ‘children’ their lunches. “We should just lock them in a room together and make them talk this - whatever it is - out,” he added as he shot a dummy in the eye in sheer frustration. He’d expected to have to occasionally babysit Stark, but he’d thought that Rogers would have been a little more reliable than this. They’d been keeping things under control and there were thankfully no attacks that required the full attention of the whole team. With Thanos under lockdown, things had seemed to calm down considerably.

“That’s actually not a half bad idea,” Bruce said, looking up from the arrow he’d started to pick up and examine.

“Ah. Not that one. That one works just fine,” Clint said, taking the arrow from Bruce’s fingers and setting it back on the table.

“Right. Just say that we have an emergency and need them both in the same room, then ask Jarvis to not open the doors for them,” Bruce said as he leaned over the table to look at the vents on the side of the arrow that Clint had just taken from him. Knock out gas – nice. He hoped it was knock out gas, anyway.

“The gym where Steve has been staying is fortified, correct?” Thor asked, speaking up.

“You want to, what? Tell Tony we have an intruder in the gym?” Bruce asked, not too sure something like that would work.

“No. He would prepare for a battle. That would do no good, regardless of fortification. Is there something that could malfunction that is outside your expertise?” Thor said and looked between the two other men.

Clint snorted. “Hell. I’ll just tell him that Bruce and Steve are off with Fury for the day and that I broke the sauna controls. Tony’ll believe it.” Clint might be brilliant with his arrows, but he’d broken a few things around the rest of the tower on more than one occasion.

“But Fury is over South America right now,” Bruce said, somewhat confused.

“Do you really think that Tony knows that? Or what day it is?” Clint said with a chuckle.

With a plan in place - which mostly consisted of Clint lying to Tony and getting him down to the gym so they could lock them in together – Clint headed off to put said plan into action. Hopefully when they finally came out, they’d be speaking again. Or at least sleeping in their own beds again.

It was surprisingly simple to get Tony out of the workshop once he’d been told that Steve was out of the building. Tony grumbled as he went to the elevator with a couple tools in one hand and scrubbed the other hand through his hair and then over his face. Clint trailed after him, ready to push Tony out of the elevator if he had to, hands behind his back.

The elevator doors dinged open on the gym level and Steve looked up, wondering if Thor had forgotten something. His eyes widened when he saw Tony step off, half turning to look back into the car, saying something to the elevator’s remaining occupant. The doors closed in Tony’s face and he jerked back surprised. Steve watched as Tony turned and started to head towards the changing room, but he stopped dead when his eyes swept over Steve standing next to one of the weight machines built specifically for Thor.

Tony turned back to the elevator and hit the button before slamming a hand against the closed doors. “Jarvis, bring that elevator back right now,” Tony demanded, shouting at the ceiling.

“Sir, I believe this exercise to be in your best interest,” Jarvis said and then went quiet.

“Jarvis. No. Jarvis, open this door,” Tony yelled, but his demands were only met with silence. “JARVIS!” Tony screamed at the ceiling, but it did no good.

“Are you really that repulsed to be in the same room as me?” Steve asked, making sure to keep his distance and even putting a little more between them.

Tony spun at Steve’s words, his eyes narrowing when he saw that Steve had backed away from him. “You aren’t?” Tony asked, wondering what the hell Clint had been thinking.

“Look, I understand if you’re uncomfortable around me after what I did,” Steve started.

“Me? What about you? Your hip?” Tony asked, motioning with the hand holding a screwdriver and adjustable wrench.

Steve looked down for a second, his eyes flicking towards his hip where Tony had left a bruise trying to get away. “It doesn’t hurt.”

“Wait. What do you mean ‘after what you did’?” Tony asked, taking a couple steps closer to Steve.

“I … held you down,” Steve said quietly, his voice barely carrying across the distance between them. “I didn’t even notice you trying to get away, and then I saw the bruise the next day.”

Tony threw his head back and laughed. “You thought you forced me?” he asked and laughed more. “You must have missed me cleaning you up afterwards, too? I don’t do that for anyone,” Tony said and shook his head. Tony took a few steps closer to Steve, refusing to stop when that haunted look entered Steve’s eyes and he backed up.

“But I pulled you … And you tried to get away so hard that you left a bruise.” Steve started, heading for his shield. He wasn’t sure what he was going to do against an unarmored Tony, but maybe he could give it to Tony to defend himself with.

Tony waved a hand in the air, easily dismissing Steve’s words. “I lost myself, forgot I still had the gauntlet on and squeezed because it was good. Everything was good. Until I hurt you. I could have crippled you like that,” Tony said and he slammed the blunt end of the tools into his thigh in self-flagellation.

Steve stayed silent for a while, eyes fixed on an empty spot by the ring. “You think you hurt me?” Steve asked the blank spot.

“Yeah. I could have done some serious damage wearing that gauntlet,” Tony answered.

“And I think I forced you and could have hurt you,” Steve said, his eyes flicking towards Tony. “Did I hurt you?” he asked.

Tony snorted. “I came in the suit without touching myself, WHILE I had your cock down my throat. Didn’t force me. Didn’t hurt me,” Tony said and a small smile crossed his face when he thought back to the orgasm.

“You didn’t hurt me. It … well, it felt good. Everything you did felt really good,” Steve said, finally meeting Tony’s eyes. 

“I didn’t hurt you. You didn’t hurt me. So why have I been hiding in the workshop?” Tony asked and he set his tools down on the edge of the boxing ring as he passed it, taking a few steps closer to Steve.

“Same reason I’ve been living here for the last three days. We’re both idiots,” Steve said and shook his head. He was at the wall, his shield hanging next to his shoulder, but now he didn’t need it.

“It’s only been three days?” Tony asked, pausing in his prowling. When Steve nodded, Tony shook his head. “Felt like much longer without you around.” Tony reached Steve in four more steps, one hand rising to run a thumb over his cheek.

Steve leaned his head against the hand for a second and then threw caution to the wind and wrapped his arms around Tony’s waist. Steve’s head dropped enough to press his lips against Tony’s mouth and that was all it took for Tony to move against Steve. Lips molded together, tongues brushing over one another, and hands skimming over bodies, shoving clothes out of the way to touch skin, to leave burning paths where nails scraped away a few layers.

Tony pulled away from Steve’s mouth for a second, panting to catch his breath. “If I say floccinaucinihilipilification, stop.”

Steve stopped for a second. “Floccina … what?”

“It’s a … … it’s meaningless,” Tony said waving a hand in the air dismissively. “If I say it, stop. Otherwise, everything is all good. So there’s no misunderstanding like this again.”

Steve nodded. “Got it.”

He pulled Tony into another kiss, lifting him from the floor slightly and spinning them to pin Tony to the wall. Well, pinning Tony between Steve’s body and his shield, Tony’s back arching to follow the curve of the metal. Steve pulled back for a second, looking at the shield, then back to Tony. “We can move.”

“Didn’t say the word. No stopping.” Tony said and pulled Steve back down. It felt good to have Steve in his arms again, and this time not under any silly pretenses of a scientific experiment. This time they both knew fully what they were going to be doing. Not that he didn’t think Steve had suspected something before. But this time they’d all but said they were going to be getting naked.

Steve chuckled into Tony’s mouth and complied. His mouth left Tony’s and trailed over his neck, teeth biting lightly over Tony’s pulse before sucking a mark into his skin. His hands moved from Tony’s hips, up his sides, and then down to his back to push Tony’s hips forward. One knee nudged against Tony’s, pushing his legs apart until Steve could slide his knee between Tony’s thighs.

Tony’s head tilted to the side as a moan slid from his throat. “Shit, Steve,” he said as he bared his neck, giving Steve easily access. His hands were under Steve’s shirt, fingers trailing over the muscles of his back while one of his legs hitched over Steve’s hip, pulling him closer.

Steve’s hips thrust against Tony’s, bringing a groan to both their mouths. “Lube. Gonna need lube,” Steve muttered against Tony’s neck as he sucked and nibbled and made Tony moan and squirm.

“Oil in my pocket,” Tony managed to get out between vocalizing his pleasure and leaving open mouthed kisses to Steve’s neck.

Steve pulled back abruptly and raised an eyebrow at Tony. “Oil?” he asked, unsure.

“Mineral oil. Perfectly safe,” Tony said and leaned forward to press his mouth to Steve’s once more.

Steve smiled and started working Tony’s shirt up his torso before he pulled it off, parting from Tony’s mouth only long enough to get it over his head, and then tossed it behind him.

Tony pulled back, barely enough to break the kiss. “Mmmm, not fair,” Tony said, dropping little kisses to Steve’s mouth between words.

“What?” Steve asked, pulling back a little further, but that made Tony actually pout when he couldn’t kiss him anymore.

“Me being the only without a shirt here,” Tony answered and dragged his fingers up Steve’s stomach, bunching his shirt up as Tony went.

Steve hissed a little when Tony’s nails dug in, at the new sensation. “That can be fixed easily enough,” Steve said, grabbing his shirt where Tony had bunched it up to and pulled it over his head in one easy move that made half the muscles in his upper body flex and stretch. As soon as he was free of the cotton tee, his fingers went straight for Tony’s pants, undoing the zipper and button on the jeans, while his mouth returned to Tony’s, their tongues running against each other lightly while they explored.

“Mmmm.. oil,” Tony said, pulling away and digging in his right pocket for the small bottle. It was half gone and covered in old oil stains – obviously something that Tony used often while working in the shop.

Steve took it from him and set it aside for a minute and then continued working at Tony’s pants. It only took a couple minutes for Steve to have them undone, get Tony’s leg off his hip, and then get Tony’s pants off him. Once Tony was sans pants, Steve ran his hands over Tony’s back and stopped at Tony’s ass, his fingers gripping and lifting Tony an inch or two off the floor. Tony’s legs wrapped around Steve’s waist and Steve had to take a minute to balance with the extra weight.

Tony’s cock pressed against Steve’s stomach and Steve looked down at the hard length of flesh. “Tony, this isn’t going to work,” Steve said, even as he reached for the oil and managed to coat his fingers with it.

“What?” Tony asked. “Why not?” he asked, pulling back from Steve with a frown.

“Not like this,” Steve said. “We need to move.”

“I told you-“

“I mean change position,” Steve said, interrupting Tony before he could get going on a spiel or whatever.

“Oh. Right.”

Steve shook his head and chuckled lightly while he stepped away from the wall to let Tony drop his feet to the floor once more. It took a minute for Tony’s body to remember what balance was, but then Steve turned Tony to face the wall and positioned Tony’s hands flat on the wall above the shield.

Tony was stuck with trying to watch Steve’s reflection in the shine of the metal. He couldn’t put his mouth to good use, couldn’t wrap his arms around Steve, but all that drained from his mind when Steve moved close once more, one hand moving to Tony’s front to play with a nipple – and shit he hadn’t played with Steve’s nipples at all – and the other moving to slide between the cheeks of Tony’s ass, slick from the oil. Tony gasped, his chest pressing forward into Steve’s fingers when he squeezed one of Tony’s nipples.

Steve moved half a step away long enough to spread more oil over both his hands and then was back at Tony’s back, his mouth moving to the side of Tony’s neck to suck and bite. One hand returned to Tony’s ass, a single finger slowly working its way into Tony’s opening, the other moving over the front of Tony’s body until Steve’s fingers wrapped around Tony’s cock. Tony moaned and Steve watched fascinated as his hips moved forward to meet his hand and then backwards to push onto his finger.

Tony stuttered to a stop when he pushed back and found two fingers sliding into his ass, pausing for a moment to rest his forehead against the shield and taking a couple deep breaths. The hand on his cock still moved slowly, a thumb rubbing over the head of his cock, but Steve was moving slower, stopping soon. “I’m fine,” Tony said and pushed his hips back to take both fingers in all the way to prove his point.

Steve smile against Tony’s neck and took his hand from Tony’s cock long enough to add more lube to Tony’s ass. Before he set the bottle back down, he drizzled a line along the top of Tony’s cock, enjoying as Tony moaned and a high pitched whine came from Tony’s throat. Steve put the bottle back on one of the many small shelves for his supplies that surrounded his suit and shield and then wrapped his hand around Tony’s dick at the base and stroked him in one solid motion from base to tip and back again, twisting his hand to spread more of the lube around.

Tony left his forehead pressed to the shield and braced one arm on the wall above his head. His eyes had long since closed and his breath brushed back against his face with each panting exhale. Between the fingers in his ass and the hand on his cock, he wasn’t sure he’d even make it long enough to have Steve’s cock in his ass. He could feel his orgasm building, rushing towards him. In a heartbeat, Tony had his hand wrapped around Steve’s wrist, stopping all motion on his cock. Steve stilled completely, his mouth leaving Tony’s neck.

“Stop? Floccinauci ….whatever?” Steve asked.

“No. Just didn’t want to come yet,” Tony said a little breathless.

“Oh,” Steve said and removed his hand from Tony’s cock almost like it’d burned him.

Tony chuckled lightly and turned enough in Steve’s arms to press his mouth to Steve’s, their lips parting as they came together. Tony’s hand moved up Steve’s arm as far as he could reach and back down. The kiss was slow, not rushed, just a moment to slow hurrying heart rates, to say things they couldn’t say with words yet, but could still say with their mouths.

Steve slowly added a third finger, stretching Tony’s ass. “Just relax,” Steve said as his fingers slid in to the last knuckle.

“Shiiiit,” Tony hissed, his hips thrusting back. He wanted Steve inside him. Hell, he wanted Steve inside him ten minutes ago. But he’d had Steve’s cock in his mouth, and it was definitely not average. Which made Tony wonder if it had been affected by the serum like the rest of his muscles had been, or if he’d just been this scrawny, skinny beanpole walking around with ….with THAT. Though, he was fairly certain that Steve was a grower. But still. Anyway you looked at it, Tony would need plenty of lube and all three of Steve’s fingers. If he rushed this, he’d probably just end up hurt. So Tony pressed his head against the shield and recited the periodic table in his head.

Steve mouthed at Tony’s neck, concern edging at his mind when Tony seemed distracted. The words to ask if he was okay were on the tip of his tongue, but Tony hadn’t said the word, and every other time that Steve had suggested stopping or even moving someplace more comfortable, Tony had insisted they keep going. So he poured more oil over his fingers and spread as much as he could inside Tony, short of just dumping the bottle in his ass.

With Tony as prepped as he could be, Steve undid and kicked out of his jeans, and then spread more of the oil over his cock, enjoying the slick feel for a couple strokes. It took a considerable amount of self-control for Steve to stop and remove his hand. Instead, he wrapped his hand around Tony’s cock and stroked once.

Tony’s head jerked up with a groan. “Nope. Don’t do that,” he said, his hand wrapping around Steve’s wrist again.

Steve smiled into Tony’s neck. “I thought that was the point?” Steve said and settled his hands on Tony’s hips.

Tony leaned back into the line of Steve’s body. “Not without you inside me,” Tony said.

“That can be arranged,” Steve said, spinning Tony to face him once more. Steve pressed Tony back against the shield and hooked his hands under Tony’s thigh.

Tony took the hint and with a little hop, had his legs wrapped around Steve’s hips once more. The head of Steve’s cock brushed against Tony’s entrance. “Oh shit,” Tony breathed as his forehead dropped to rest on Steve’s.

Steve tilted his chin and caught Tony’s lips, Steve’s tongue sliding into Tony’s mouth, brushing over teeth and tongue, and swallowing Tony’s moan as it left his throat. Steve’s hand slid over Tony’s back, slipping lower until he could position the head of his cock at Tony’s entrance and slowly pushed in.

Tony sighed, his body relaxing around Steve, easily accepting the thick intrusion. Steve’s hands gripped his hips, holding him in place while Steve worked his cock in and out of Tony’s ass. Tony’s hands scrambled to find something to hold onto. One ended up clinging to Steve’s shoulder, the other tangled in Steve’s hair, pulling lightly. Tony tried to move his hips, but Steve held him immobile, moving as deeply as he could in Tony’s body. Tony broke the kiss between them and pressed his face against the side of Steve’s. “Fuuuuuck, Steve. So good. Even better than I imagined,” Tony babbled, his lips moving over Steve’s cheek.

Pleasure coiled in the pit of Steve’s stomach, sparked by the excitement that he felt whenever he was around Tony, fanned to flame by the heat surrounding him that he found in every inch of Tony’s body. Steve had never thought of imagining what it would be like to be with Tony like this. It wasn’t something he’d thought possible, so he’d elected to not torment himself with the thoughts of what would never be. Instead, he’d let work consume his life, making room for occasional partners, but they were always more enthralled by the idea of Captain America than the option of getting to know Steve Rogers. But Tony. Tony was someone that Steve had come to know rather well, his habits, his mannerisms, his likes and dislikes, and Tony kept ... well, Tony had Jarvis keep track of similar items about those he cared about. That closeness, that ability to know where the other was even in the heat of battle, that drove Steve faster, his hips driving into Tony harder.

“Tony,” Steve said, his name soft, like a whispered prayer in the middle of the night. His hands splayed over Tony’s body, one pressing into his lower back, the other cradling Tony’s head, Steve’s fingers threading through his hair.

The friction on Tony’s cock rubbing between them, combined with Steve’s dick in his ass was more than enough to send Tony spiraling towards oblivion. He’d been close before; now he wasn’t sure how much more he could take before he lost all vestiges of control. “Steve. So … ungh …. So close, Steve,” Tony managed to get out between gasping moans and small, vulnerable whimpers.

“Then come,” Steve said, gliding his hand from Tony’s lower back, over his back, to his thigh, hitching his leg higher up on Steve’s hip, changing the angle just a little, just enough.

Tingling pleasure spiraled outward from Tony’s center, his cock pulsing between them, his come aiding the slide of skin on skin. Tony’s eyes fluttered closed, his back arched against Steve’s shield, his neck bared to open air while a groan dragged its way from Tony’s throat.

The sight of Tony coming undone in his arms had Steve fighting for control, but it was one fight he had no chance of winning. But losing was worth it. He stopped fighting, let the squeeze of Tony’s muscles pull him under as waves of bliss rolled over him. Steve’s cock stroked in and out of Tony’s ass, milking come from his balls. 

Steve managed to turn them around and slid down the wall to sit with Tony in his lap. His head rested on Tony’s shoulder while his hands trailed over Tony’s back until they settled at his shoulder blades and Steve just held him, enjoying the tingling sensation covering every inch of his body. He tried not to think about what this might mean, or that it might just be meaningless sex, and just let the contentment build and settle over him.

Tony nuzzled against Steve’s shoulder, shivers rippling through his muscles every time Steve shifted beneath him, rubbing against his cock still trapped between them. His brain hopped, skipped to Steve moving things to Tony’s room and this becoming a regular thing between them. But from there, his mind immediately made the jump to worst case scenario of Steve leaving because this hadn’t been what he’d wanted. Leaving the team. Leaving Tony.

Steve felt Tony tense in his lap, in his arms, and tensed himself. Here it came. Tony telling him that this was just a huge mistake. That he’d meant to say the safe word before they’d even started. His arms tightened around Tony for half a second before he dropped his arms to his sides.

“What? No,” Tony said, grabbing Steve’s wrist and putting his hand back behind Tony’s back. “I don’t want you to leave.”

Steve snorted and wrapped his arms back around Tony. “Seems we both thought along the same lines,” he said when Tony’s eyes snapped to his. “Biggest mistake of your life?” Steve asked.

“Not even close,” Tony said.

“You’re not going to get rid of me easily,” Steve said, answering Tony’s earlier fear.

“We should probably stop doing that, you know,” Tony said and relaxed, cuddling up against Steve’s chest again.

“Probably not going to happen,” Steve and chuckled. “We’ll just have to remind each other frequently.”

“Mmmm, and loudly,” Tony said and he started to drift off to sleep in Steve’s lap.

Steve watched Tony sleep for a while, threading his fingers through dark waves until he started to drift off himself. He could have tried to move them to a bed, but that might have woken Tony, and he already didn’t sleep enough, so Steve stayed put and let himself fall off into rest.


	5. The End of the Beginning

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The morning after and everything falls into place.

**Chapter 5**

Steve slowly woke up, his mind remembering where he was and just what that weight on his lap was. His arms tightened around Tony and his face nuzzled against Tony’s neck, wanting to wake him up, but also wanting Tony to get some more sleep. Steve let his head thump back against the wall and watched Tony sleep. Dark lashes rested on cheeks and a little line of drool escaped his mouth, which was actually a little gross, since that meant Tony was drooling on him.

Tony snorted and jerked awake, his hands pushing against Steve’s chest to prop himself up. He looked around, trying to get his bearings, when his eyes landed Steve.

“Oh. So not a dream,” Tony said with a grin. He looked down and saw that they were both naked. “Definitely NOT a dream.” He leaned closer, his hands sliding up Steve’s chest to his shoulders, and his lips skipped over Steve’s mouth, ending up next to Steve’s ear. “I could use a reminder, if you’re up for it.”

Steve grinned and threaded his fingers through Tony’s hair, and pulled Tony back enough to slant his mouth over Tony’s, his tongue brushing over Tony’s. Hands moved over skin, fingers teasing at sensitive spots they’d found previously.

Tony moaned into Steve’s mouth and his hands dropped to Steve’s cock, stroking until Steve was hard in his hands. Tony’s hips moved, rubbing his cock against Steve’s abs, a moan escaping his lips. “Lube,” Tony said, pulling his mouth free from their kiss for a moment. “Need more oil,” he elaborated before trailing kisses along Steve’s jaw to his neck. He sucked, nipped, and bit, trying to raise a mark on Steve’s neck, even though Tony knew it wouldn’t stay for long. But he still wanted to see it.

Steve reached up to the small shelf he’d left it on the previous night, his head tilting to make room for Tony’s mouth on his neck. “Shit, Tony,” Steve moaned as his fingers wrapped around the oil bottle. His arm wrapped around Tony’s back, his hand cradling the back of Tony’s head, holding his mouth against Steve’s neck.

Steve fumbled with the oil and poured some over his cock, then set the bottle down and stroked his dick, spreading the oil over skin and coating his fingers at the same time. With slick fingers, Steve switched from his cock to Tony’s ass, slipping one finger in easily. A second and third finger followed the first quickly and it was only a few minutes before Tony’s ass was coated in lube and stretched and relaxed.

Tony reached behind himself to guide Steve’s cock into his ass, then released Steve’s neck to see his handy work. There was a dark red, almost purple mark coloring Steve’s skin. “Very nice,” Tony said as he started to move his hips over Steve’s lap. Tony dragged a finger over the mark and then settled his hands on Steve’s shoulders, using the leverage to move his ass faster over Steve’s cock.

Steve’s head hit the wall with a groan and his hands settled on Tony’s hips, guiding him, moving them faster. Tony riding him felt amazing. He wasn’t sure how long he’d be able to hold out, to keep his orgasm at bay. He already felt a little overwhelmed. “Tony, hurry,” Steve said, feeling breathless. One hand moved from Tony’s hip to his cock, stroking in time with Tony’s movements.

Tony groaned and he moved over Steve a little faster. “Steve,” said, shoving his hair out of his face then dragging a hand down his chest to wrap around his cock, his fingers linking with Steve’s. “Close.”

“I want to watch you get yourself off,” Steve said, using his hand on Tony’s hip to stall his movements. He took his hand off Tony’s cock and wrapped his fingers around Tony’s wrist, moving his hand.

“F-fu-ck Steve,” Tony moaned, his hand flying over his cock, only to slow down enough to rub his thumb over the head of his cock for a moment, and then picked up speed again. Steve’s cock in his ass, just sitting there was a tease to Tony, and his hips ground against Steve’s. His other hand left Steve’s shoulder to trail over his body, over his chest, down his stomach, over his thigh, up to his balls, his breath catching when his fingers brushed over skin that was hyper sensitive.

Steve watched fascinated as Tony worked his cock, his eyes tracking the path of his other hand, vowing to follow the same path with his mouth next time. He wanted to flip Tony onto his back and just thrust into him until they both came with a shout. But he wanted to watch Tony like this, driving himself crazy while Steve’s cock was buried in his ass.

“I … I can’t. Steeeeeve. Please. N-nnn-need you,” Tony said, his hips moving in little thrusts against Steve’s hips.

“What do you need?” Steve asked, sliding his hands up and down Tony’s thighs, thumbs grazing teasingly close to Tony’s cock and balls.

“Neeeeed you t-t-t-to f-f-fu-fuuuck me into the floor,” Tony said between clenched teeth.

Steve happily obliged and rolled Tony to his back and started thrusting into Tony’s ass, alternating between short, fast and long, slow strokes. Tony was coming underneath him in a few short minutes, a cry on his lips. Steve followed quickly after, his entire body going rigid before he slumped against Tony practically boneless.

Tony smiled and wrapped his arms around Steve, hugging him tight for a minute before he let his body go limp once more. He winced, a little sore, when Steve pulled free from his ass, but it was a well-used soreness that would turn into a light ache for a few days, reminding Tony of this every time he moved.

Steve noticed the slight wince and worry creased his eyebrows as he lay down next to Tony. “Are you okay?” he asked, his hand lightly rubbing over Tony’s arms and torso, trying to find what might be causing him pain.

“I’m fine,” Tony said with a chuckle. “Better than fine. Just not used to being on the receiving end in this situation, so I’ll be a little sore for a day or two. Nothing to worry about,” Tony reassured Steve and he rolled to his side so he could cuddle against Steve. “Roll over,” Tony said, his finger twirling in the direction away from Tony.

Steve looked confused for a second, but did as Tony asked, then kept going when it appeared that Tony didn’t want him on his back, but on his side facing away from Tony. Maybe he’d hurt Tony worse than he was letting on and just didn’t want Steve to see.

“You’re thinking too much,” Tony said as he scooted up against Steve’s back and molded his front to Steve’s back. Tony’s left arm draped over Steve’s side to lightly brush over Steve’s stomach and chest. “Pepper never let me do this,” Tony said. “Just wanted to see what it was like. It’s nice,” Tony added and then pressed a kiss to Steve’s shoulder.

“We should get cleaned up this time,” Steve said, linking his fingers with Tony’s. “And actually talk.”

Tony stilled behind Steve, wondering what exactly Steve could possibly want to discuss, his mind throwing up a hundred different possibilities before he took his next breath. “Yeah. A shower sounds great. My stomach is covered in come,” Tony said and he rolled away from Steve’s back and to his feet. A small smile pulled at one side of his mouth when his legs didn’t try to give out on him as he walked towards the locker room and the showers beyond that.

With a sigh, Steve got his feet under him and caught up to Tony in the doorway of the locker room, stopping him with a hand on Tony’s shoulder. “I want to know what this means to you. Am I just another notch in your bedpost or is this something serious?” Steve asked, dropping his hand down to his side.

“Not a notch. You are not notch material, Steve,” Tony said and continued towards the showers. “I expect there will be some kind of happy announcement before the next year is out.” Tony waved with his left hand over his shoulder.

Steve stood there for a minute, digesting what Tony had said, then his eyes widened. “Tony. Tony, get back here. Did you just ….?” Steve said, jogging to reach the shower spray that Tony had disappeared under. Steve pulled him out from under the water and got in front of Tony.

Tony raised an expectant eyebrow at Steve. “Yes, Steve?”

Steve’s heart was in his throat. “Did you just ….” Steve shook his head. Then he caught sight of the smirk tugging at Tony’s lips. “Did you just propose to me?” Steve asked.

Tony stopped fighting the smile. “Maybe. If you want this wretch as your partner.”

“I’d never want anyone else at my side,” Steve said and wrapped Tony up in a hug, pressing a kiss to Tony’s temple before Steve caught Tony’s lips.

They kissed for a few minutes in the back splash from the shower, steam rising around them. Their lips were the only part of their body moving together. Until Tony pulled back and raised a hand with one finger held up.

“Is that a yes?” Tony asked, a serious expression on his face.

“Is that a formal proposal?” Steve asked, his face falling into similar lines.

“We could make it a black tie affair if you liked, but yes, it is.”

“Yes. We should get married.” Steve pressed his mouth to Tony’s neck and pulled him under the spray of water, the happiest Steve had been since he’d been thawed out.


End file.
